Five Nights at Freddy’s is a 2023 horror film directed by Emma Tammi and is based off of the horror video game franchise of the same name. Created by game developer Scott Cawthon, the franchise about killer animatronics became an online sensation since the original’s release in 2014, growing popular with the Let’s Player community and generating a huge fan base thanks to its jump scares and sprawling amounts of lore. Out of all the indie horror games that were around at the time, like Slender or SCP Containment Breach, this one really seemed to be the one that spread like wildfire, creating sequels, prequels, spin-offs and even knock off games trying to capture that same magic. Like all popular things, a movie was bound to happen, and though Universal originally had first dibs on the rights, the film eventually fell into the hands of Blumhouse, the kings of cheap but profitable horror movies. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with this studio. On one hand I love that it gives a ton of opportunities to new directors and keeps horror in the mainstream, yet at the same time I find a lot of their films to be fairly formulaic while trying to appeal to as many people as possible ultimately hinders the films’ uniqueness. This, coupled with the long dreaded curse of video game to movie adaptations, made me think this was just going to be another drop in the bucket for Blumhouse. Something that will absolutely make its money back but quickly leave my mind as soon as the credits roll. 

And yeah, I think I was mostly right.

Five Nights at Freddy’s does succeed at translating the visuals and iconography of the games to the screen in a fantastic way, thanks in part to fantastic looking animatronics from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Most fans will be happy to see the level of the faithfulness the film takes when adapting the characters and history to the big screen, but unfortunately I think this is where the film’s carry over essentially stops. As a film, it’s aggressively unscary, with most of its jump scares remaining ineffective while the sense of lingering dread and high anxiety from the games is severely missing. The spirit of the original game is discarded in favor of an overly complicated narrative that seems more interested in bending the knee to series winks and nods rather than creating an entertaining film. 

The film follows a down on his luck guy named Mike whose inability to hold down a job jeopardizes his status as guardian for his younger sister. Desperate for work, he takes on the role of nightguard for a rundown pizzeria that is home to cute animatronic animals. Yet the more Mike stays there the more he learns of the restaurant’s dark past that coincidentally coincides with his own tragic past, leading him down a mystery of ghosts, murder and robot hydraulics.

Just like the games, this film has a lot going on here narratively, but unlike the games, it takes the most annoying and boring route possible to stuff all of this into the film’s story. Instead of having any real mystery or giving the main character a path of self-discovery, everything is more or less explained to him by other characters. This film drops so much exposition constantly through poorly written dialogue rather than letting the characters or viewer discover any of this on their own. The character of Vanessa, a cop who befriends Mike, literally feels like she was created to fill gaps in info to the viewer. She shows up and simultaneously has all the answers while at the same time is purposefully vague in ways that are purely meant to keep the story going. Without her, the film would have had to find an interesting way to discern to the audience what is happening. Too daunting of a task, apparently. The same can kind of be said about Mike’s younger sister, Abby. Her connection to the supernatural elements of the film just feel super lazy and are only there to, once again, explain what is happening to our main character. I know the filmmakers felt the need to spell out every little thing because this is directed at a younger audience. But come on, have you seen the FNAF fandom? Part of why the series is such a hit is because people are genuinely enthralled by analyzing the little secrets of the game to discover more about the story. This absolutely could have been utilized in the film beyond just easter eggs for the fans. 

I feel the same way about the game’s use of horror and how that failed to translate into the film. If you look at the original FNAF game, you may think there’s not a lot here to adapt properly to a film. It takes place all in one room and the gameplay is basically looking to and from cameras while conserving power. Surely, this wouldn’t make an interesting movie, right? Well, yeah, if you look at it from a super limited point of view. To me, what the game is about is a mysterious, encroaching terror that at first can’t be understood, and for the most part, can’t be stopped. The games utilize silence and effective sound design to unnerve players, which eventually builds to total panic and is ended with a well deserved jumpscare. But here most of the scares are pretty obvious and rarely effective. I do think some of this comes from an over-exposure of the animatronics. We honestly see far too much of them and how they move, which makes them lose that Jason Voorhese-style mystique, where they could move closer to you in the blink of an eye. We hardly ever see them do anything scary, killing most people off screen or letting a mechanical cupcake do all the work. The film should really be named after him. He does most of the work. The film never really effectively establishes the animatronics as a threat before completely switching the vibe and framing them as cute and wholesome. Even though the film literally contains themes of child murder and kidnapping, you never really feel unnerved by any of it, which is a shame. To me, this just feels like a misread of the franchise and a hesitance to fully commit to the film’s horror roots.

Some people are really trying their best to make this work somewhat. Josh Hutcherson does an okay job as the protagonist Mike, who tries to ground the film despite playing a character that cartoonishly has experienced every terrible thing possible in the world. His performance is fine, but he’s never really given a ton of agency over his story and kind of just exists to have everything that’s happening explained to him in detail. Matthew Lillard does a decent job as well, but he’s barely in the film and his presence is hardly felt. I feel like his role in the film is obvious, but I won’t go into spoilers on the off chance you want to see this film completely blind. Let’s just say he could have been used in a much more efficient, interesting way than how he was. Props also need to be given to the art department, which gives us a decently realized setting of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, as well as some faithfully constructed animatronics. Even if I have some issues with how the animatronics were utilized in the film, you can’t deny that they are impressively built and surprisingly mobile. 

Other than that, I really didn’t care for this all that much. Narratively, the film has so much going on that it just feels like needless bloat. I think this could have been a nice, contained horror film that embodied the dread and isolation of the games while maintaining an engaging mystery and world for the main character, and by extension the audience, to unravel. Instead, the only thing the film seems keen on is little references for the fans to point and clap at. This could have been a great way to introduce new audiences to what’s so fun about the franchise, but instead what we got was an unscary, middle of the road horror film that does nothing new or particularly unique. And if this film is really just for the fans…then congrats I guess. You got something far less scary and far less intriguing than the games themselves. Personally, I think y’all deserved a little bit more.

Rating

Golden Freddy

Don’t say I don’t know nothing about no Five Guys at Fredbear’s. I did a lil research into the lore and I have played a few of the games, and I’ve always thought the character of Golden Freddy was pretty ominous and unsettling. So we’re embodying the embodiment of dead child wrath into a nice, shimmering drink. The gin, lemon and honey combo adds a welcoming brightness, while the amaretto and cinnamon add a suitable bite of spice and nuttiness to finish it off. Welcoming and easy to drink, this cocktail will give you the pep you need to stay up all night staring at a screen. Like most of us don’t do that already.

Ingredients

• 2oz Gin
• 1/2oz Amaretto
• 3/4oz honey syrup
• 1/4oz Cinnamon syrup
• 1/2oz Lemon juice
• 1tsp edible gold dust
• Garnish: Lemon slices

Instructions

1. Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into chilled coup glass.
3. Garnish with two lemon slices.